California Likely to Increase Minimum Wage To Highest In Country
As chronicled on this blog (here, here, and here), Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature have been in an embroiled dispute over increasing California’s minimum wage for over one year. The major area of disagreement between the Governor and the legislature was whether the state’s minimum wage would be indexed for inflation so that the minimum wage would automatically increase each year. Last year the Governor vetoed a bill requiring this automatic increase each year.
It appears that there has been an agreement reached. Initial reports are that the agreement between the state legislature and the Governor calls for an increase the state’s minimum wage by $1.25 over the next year and a half to $8 per hour. The agreement specifies that the minimum wage will increase by 75 cents per hour next January, increase again by 50 cents per hour the following January, and there will be no automatic increases each year due to inflation. Currently, the California minimum wage is $6.75 per hour.